Mississippi remains on the federal dole, with federal tax dollars making up 42.1 percent of state revenue — nearly as much as it collects in taxes — a new report by the Pew Charitable Trusts shows.

Mississippi state Capitol(Photo: File photo/The Clarion-Ledger)

Some findings:

Mississippi trailed only Louisiana, at 42.2 percent, in states ranked highest in federal shares of revenue, based on fiscal 2015 data.

Mississippi's federal share of revenue was up from fiscal 2014, when it clocked at 40.9 percent.

The states with the lowest federal share of revenue were North Dakota at 18.4 percent and Virginia at 21.5 percent.

The federal share of states' revenue nationwide rose in fiscal 2015, likely a result of the first full year of expanded Medicaid eligibility for some states from the Affordable Care Act (Mississippi did not expand Medicaid eligibility per the ACA). The federal government share of state revenue nationwide rose from 30.7 percent in fiscal 2014 to 31.9 percent, the third-largest federal share since at least 1961.

The federal share of revenue nationwide remained lower than during federal stimulus spending after the Great Recession, when the federal share rose to 35.5 percent in 2010.

Mississippi saw a peak federal share of revenue in 2007 at 51.3 percent, due to federal Hurricane Katrina relief spending.

Census data show Mississippi received more than $7.2 billion in federal aid for 2014.

A report earlier this year by WalletHub, "Most Federally Dependent States," ranked Mississippi as second-most federally dependent, trailing Kentucky. That study ranked Mississippi residents as seventh most dependent on federal dollars and its state government as the first most dependent.

In February, Mississippi lawmakers received a briefing and data from the state economist and the state treasurer's office that showed more Mississippians work in government — about 246,000 — than any other sector. More than 40 percent of personal income in Mississippi comes from government, the state data showed, 26.3 percent from transfer payments and 14.4 percent from government earnings. Only West Virginia and New Mexico are more dependent on government.